Monday, June 29, 2015

Be informed with today's important political news and opinion

Update

Was long at the VA today. After Physical Therapy I had an eye appointment. I've been seeing double more (and, yes, I'm still limited to one drink a day!) The optometrist believes it is weakening eye muscles (I'll try going to Hooters), and ordered new glasses. Glad it's not something more serious. ~Bob

Excerpt: The fictional and cinema hero Forrest Gump somehow always managed to turn up at historic moments in the latter twentieth century. But whereas Forrest usually had a positive role to play at the hinges of fate, the equally ubiquitous Hillary Gump usually appeared as a bit player who made things far worse. Take the issue of government abuse, ethics, and public transparency. The modern locus classicus of government overreach was the Watergate scandal. Over forty years ago Hillary was there as a young legal intern purportedly advising the House Judiciary Committee during the congressional investigations. She was also reportedly let go by her superiors for unethical conduct — quis custodiet ipsos custodes? From Watergate to Travelgate to Filegate to Whitewater to the current quid pro quos of the Clinton Foundation to her recent destruction of private emails and her private server while serving as secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has been at or near lots of government scandals of the last half-century. Twenty years ago Hillary Clinton was brazenly evading federal law by hiding her legal records from a court-ordered subpoena for documents — in the same fashion that in 2015 she destroyed all traces of her email correspondence on her private server, in violation of State Department protocol and most likely federal law.

Excerpt: Judicial Watch today released new State Department documents showing that Hillary Clinton and the State Department’s response to the Benghazi attack was immediately determined by top Obama White House officials, particularly Ben Rhodes, then-White House deputy strategic communications adviser, and Bernadette Meehan, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. The new documents were forced from the U.S. State Department under court order in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. (I have always thought they determined that it was better to let the Ambassador, his assistant and the SEALs die, rather than risk a firefight saving them that would likely have killed Muslims, giving the Jihadists and excuse to provoke riots and endanger Obama's re-election. ~Bob)

Excerpts: On CNN’s Inside Politics this Sunday morning, host John King told his audience to pay attention in the coming days because the Email scandal had grown a new set of legs when the State Department admitted that Clinton never gave them some emails that clearly discuss State Department business. King then went on to lay all of the blame for the scandal that he believes to be a big nothingburger, squarely at the feet of Hillary Clinton, saying, “Now, will some Republicans blow this out of proportion or wander into the realm of conspiracy theory?

Perhaps, even probably, but as Democrats accuse them of being partisan or reckless, remember this: This would not be an issue if Clinton hadn’t erased her email server and if she followed the wishes of her boss, Obama about how to handle cabinet-level emails.” (If Nixon had shredded all the tapes he would likely have survived. And she has the media running interference. ~Bob)

Excerpt: Her loss wasn’t because Barack Obama was a genius campaigner. It wasn’t because he outshined her on the issues. It certainly wasn’t because he had more experience. Mrs. Clinton lost the 2008 nomination because she’s her own worst enemy.

Her remarkable decision to set up her own email server is well known. And there’s also the refusal to talk with the press like a normal person. It does seem clear Mrs. Clinton is running as the incumbent, which makes sense when you’re also able to imagine yourself enduring a corkscrew landing in Bosnia.

Excerpt: Now this was predictable: The State Department on Thursday said Hillary Clinton failed to turn over 15 work-related e-mails from her private server, despite claiming she’d handed over everything. Which raises the troubling question: How many more did she also, uh, “miss”? Remember, the former secretary of state and her aides had insisted they’d sent the department all her work-related e-mails from her personal server after conducting a “careful” review.

In Bernie Sanders, an unlikely — but real — threat to Hillary Clinton. By John Wagner and Anne Gearan, Washington Post

Excerpt: At the first glimpse of the rumpled 73-year-old senator from Vermont, the standing-room-only crowd at a historic inn here Sunday morning erupted — leaping up, waving signs and breaking into chants of “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie!” ... Sanders — a self-described democratic socialist — has seen his crowds swell and is gaining ground in the polls on the formidable Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton. In New Hampshire, where Sanders was on yet another weekend swing, one survey last week showed him within 8 percentage points of Clinton.

Interesting: Socialism Is War and War Is Socialism. Both forms of central planning are reactionary, not progressive. By Steven Horwitz

Excerpt: The right and left do not realize that they are both making the same error. Libertarians understand that the shared processes of spontaneous orders like language and the market can enable all of us to achieve many of our individual desires without any of us dictating those values for others. By contrast, the right and left share a desire to impose their own sets of values on all of us and thereby fashion the world in their own images. No wonder they don’t understand us.

Excerpt: A central economic question of our time is whether the policies undertaken to recover from the last financial crisis are laying the groundwork for the next. We now have two reports from reputable groups suggesting just that.

Excerpt: Share prices slumped across Europe on Monday as Greece shuttered its banks for a week following a fateful weekend that has shaken Europe’s single currency. The Greek government decided on Sunday night it had no option but to close the nation’s banks the following day after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised the stakes by freezing the liquidity lifeline that has kept them afloat during a six-month run on deposits. In London the FTSE 100 tumbled by 150 points - more than 2% - when trading began at 8am BST. There were even sharper falls across Europe, with the French and German markets both tumbling by 4%. European banking shares were the hardest hit, suffering losses of up to 10%. (Beware of Greeks wanting gifts. ~Bob)

Excerpt: U.S. stock markets fell sharply on Monday after a global sell-off as investors grew increasingly skittish over the prospects of twin debt defaults by Greece and Puerto Rico.

Greece appeared likely to miss a critical debt payment to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday as negotiations over unlocking additional aid from its European creditors broke down over the weekend. Banks have shut down for the week, and citizens can withdraw only 60 euros ($67) a day from their accounts. Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, the island’s governor is slated to announce later Monday that it cannot pay back more than $70 billion in debt. (This is a glimpse of the future of all the progressive welfare states, and the dependant class grows and the money runs out. ~Bob)

Excerpt: Greek banks will be closed and capital controls will be imposed, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says. Speaking after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it was not increasing emergency funding to Greek banks, Mr Tsipras said Greek deposits were safe. (I knowGreeceisn’t as fun a topic as gay marriage or the Confederate flag, but if debate over those topics has tired and depressed you, pop some popcorn and get a good seat as a left-wing entitlement mentality slams into the brick wall of reality at about 250 miles per hour: --JimGeraghty, Morning Jolthttp://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters)

Excerpt: Democratic Governor Dan Malloy has sealed Connecticut’s economic fate. He recently approved a $40 billion budget that includes a $700 million tax hike. According to The Tax Foundation, the ConstitutionState now has the tenth worst business climate in America. Three major corporations are publicly considering moving their operations out of state.

Excerpt: DemocratMilwaukeeCounty prosecutors tapped the email and text communications of conservative activists as part of a five-year probe aimed at bringing down Republican Gov. Scott Walker, affidavits reviewed by Wisconsin Watchdog reveal. One target of the spying operation told Wisconsin Watchdog the methods used to keep tabs on Wisconsin residents were like those of the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program. “It was actually worse because (MilwaukeeCounty prosecutors) were taking the body of emails and looking at actual data,” said the source, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution from the prosecutors.

That’s the rallying cry of the Rochester Republican and majority Assembly members who believe something on the “road to repeal” is better than nothing. For conservatives who see 2015 as a golden opportunity to use the Assembly’s largest Republican majority since the Eisenhower administration to limit the size of government, the bill comes up far short.

Excerpt: he Supreme Court acted Monday to keep Texas' 19 abortion clinics open, amid a legal fight that threatens to close more than half of them. The justices voted 5-4 to grant an emergency appeal from the clinics after a federal appeals court upheld new clinic regulations and refused to keep them on hold while the clinics appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court order will remain in effect at least until the court decides whether to hear the clinics' appeal of the lower court ruling, not before the fall.

Rand Paul TIME op-ed: Government Should Get Out of the Marriage Business

Excerpt: Perhaps it is time to be more careful what we ask government to do, and where we allow it to become part of our lives. While I disagree with Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage, I believe that all Americans have the right to contract. The constitution is silent on the question of marriage because marriage has always been a local issue. Our founding fathers went to the local courthouse to be married, not to Washington, DC.

Excerpt: Carly Fiorina broke into the Top 10 in a recent Fox News poll. This past weekend she stole the show at the Western Conservative Summit, according to news reports: The former Hewlett-Packard CEO placed second to Mr. [Ben] Carson and ahead of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker after generating favorable buzz with a reputation-making speech Saturday that drew rowdy cheers and multiple standing ovations, followed by a mobbed press conference and book-signing. … Ms. Fiorina won over the audience with her no-nonsense views on big government and national security, compassion for those hit hardest by Democratic programs like Obamacare, and an unflinching take on her own struggles, which include a battle with cancer and being fired from Hewlett-Packard. (Be a big hit to Scott Walker. ~Bob)

Excerpt: The United States no longer has, as the Constitution designed, a government composed of executive, legislative and judicial branches, separate, but equal in power. The federal government is now an alliance of branches, devoted to the preservation of government itself, separate, not from each other, but from the American people and dedicated to tyranny.

Excerpt: Remember how President Obama failed to enforce his “red line” in Syria? Well, it’s happening again — this time in cyberspace. On April 1, Obama drew a cyber “red line” in the sand when he signed an executive authorizing sanctions against individuals or entities who carry out cyberattacks or cyberespionage against the United States. “Starting today,” Obama declared, “we’re giving notice to those who pose significant threats to our security or economy by damaging our critical infrastructure, disrupting or hijacking our computer networks, or stealing the trade secrets of American companies or the personal information of American citizens for profit.”

The Market Detonation You’re Ignoring: “The Chinese Market Is in an All-On Crash”

Excerpt: With the eyes of the world on Greece and a possible collapse of the Eurozone as a likely end result, many are ignoring a potentially much more massive elephant in the room. It's been the hottest market in the world, so flush with cash that they have actually built entire ghost-cities lacking populations and mega shopping centers without tenants – a clear sign of bubble waiting to be pricked. But the inevitable seems to now be taking hold as once unstoppable Chinese stock markets are now reversing the unprecedented gains seen over the last several years.

Excerpt: A suspect in a WeldCounty home invasion is facing child abuse charges after investigators say she brought along her three children as she broke into a home. Melanie Romero, 35, was arrested earlier this month. The homeowner is a retired police officer and was home at the time Romero allegedly broke into her house located between Milliken and Johnstown. Kim Steffen-Brauch was napping when she encountered the intruder. "I felt this presence, almost like I could hear footsteps going across my living room," she said.

Steffen-Brauch says she's never too far away from her gun, so seconds later when the female intruder was standing in her bedroom doorway she was ready.

Excerpt: Neighbors in the 800 block of South Link Avenue were still shaking on Saturday after a resident shot a man who police think may have been trying to burglarize his home about 9:20 Friday night. "We just heard boom boom boom boom," said Linda Shultz. ... Police responded to a burglary in progress and found a man with multiple gunshot wounds. Neighbors say they saw the man who was shot lying in front of the house, still wearing a mask.

Excerpt: “Since Sandy Hook there has been a school shooting, on average, every week. How on earth can we live with ourselves if we do nothing?” — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), speech on Senate floor, June 24, 2015. Lawmakers have a responsibility to check out the facts in the reports they use, especially ones that come from advocacy groups. If they are aware there are definitions that are disputed, or that are defined in other ways depending on who uses them, it is incumbent on lawmakers to clarify exactly what they are talking about and not mislead the public. In particular, lawmakers should rely more on official government statistics, such as from the FBI, rather than misleading metrics cobbled together by interest groups. We wavered between Three and Four Pinocchios. But this is a definition of “school shooting” that was widely disputed a year ago, and lawmakers need to present information — especially for such a controversial topic as gun control — in a clear, responsible and accurate way. Murphy’s failure to do so tipped the rating to Four. Four Pinocchios

Excerpt: In the aftermath of the Baltimore riots, there is increased concern with issues of race and opportunity. Yet most of the discussion focuses on such things as police brutality, perceptions of racism and other issues that are dear to the hearts of today’s progressive chattering classes. Together they are creating what talk show host Tavis Smiley, writing in Time, has labeled “an American catastrophe.” Yet what has not been looked at nearly as much are the underlying conditions that either restrict or enhance upward mobility among racial minorities, including African-Americans, Latinos and Asians. In order to determine this, my colleague at Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism Wendell Cox and I developed a ranking system that included four critical factors: migration patterns, home ownership, self-employment and income.

Tee shirts with pictures of the ruthless murdering Communist bastard Che Guevara offend me greatly--get them out of stores! “What we affirm is that we must proceed along the path of liberation even if this costs millions of atomic victims.” “To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary … These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution!” “We must eliminate all newspapers; we cannot make a revolution with free press.” --Che Guevara

Excerpt: usually, when we say “American slavery” or the “American slave trade,” we mean the American colonies or, later, the United States. But as we discussed in Episode 2 of Slate’s History of American Slavery Academy, relative to the entire slave trade, North America was a bit player. From the trade’s beginning in the 16th century to its conclusion in the 19th, slave merchants brought the vast majority of enslaved Africans to two places: the Caribbean and Brazil. Of the more than 10 million enslaved Africans to eventually reach the Western Hemisphere, just 388,747—less than 4 percent of the total—came to North America. (Dr. Thomas Sowell says that during the period when 500,000 African slaves were brought to North America, a million white European slaves were kidnapped to Muslim North Africa. A great many black slaves were taken by the Muslims as well, but except for women attractive enough for the harems, most didn't survive to breed. People everywhere have engaged in slavery, usually of people close to them, as before sailing ships it was hard to get to Africa to buy slaves from the natives [whites couldn't survive in the interior until modern drugs came along, slave sellers were Arabs or fellow Africans.] The word "slave" comes from "Slav," as the Slavs were so often enslaved by Romans and other Europeans. ~Bob)

Excerpt: TRIGGER WARNING: during a discussion earlier today, someone posted this meme, I suppose in an effort to make light of the perpetual outrage and offense that permeates our culture. But I think, instead, this heartless and callous individual only demonstrated the need for the PC police. You might think it's fun to joke about this potato, but do you consider how this image might trigger someone, like myself, with Irish ancestry, because it reminds us of the potato famine? Also, the potato is brown and dirty and it grows in the ground, which could easily be construed as a statement that brown skinned people are dirty and live in caves. Meanwhile, people from Idaho are likely offended because this image appropriates their culture and makes a mockery of it. --Matt Welsh

Obamacare/Government Healthcare News

The Story Behind How Unions Suddenly Came To Love Obamacare. Connor D. Wolf

Excerpt: When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Obamacare Thursday, unions praised the decision, but it wasn’t always that way. The biggest, most powerful unions in the U.S. opposed the law until they were granted special exemptions. ... The UFCW, AFSCME, the AFL-CIO, the United Steelworkers and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) among others all released statements showing their support for the law and the highest court’s decision to uphold it. Not long ago, however, unions were adamantly opposed to President Barack Obama’s massive healthcare overhaul. “On behalf of the millions of working men and women we represent and the families they support, we can no longer stand silent in the face of elements of the Affordable Care Act that will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans,” a union letter from 2013, which was obtained by The Wall Street Journal, detailed.

Excerpt: On June 25, the Supreme Court upheld health insurance subsidies in states that rely on the federal exchange. The 6-to-3 majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts. A National Journal headline proclaimed “John Roberts Saves Obamacare, Again,” explaining “It's also the second time in three years Roberts has helped pull Obamacare back from the brink of disaster.” The outcome did not surprise those who have followed Chief Justice Roberts’ recent voting record.

"You're Greener than Gore" News

BREAKING: The Obama Administration Just Lost A BIG One At The Supreme Court. By Norvell Rose

Excerpt: After handing President Obama a couple of huge wins last week with respect to Obamacare and same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court has just delivered a big blow to the administration’s environmental agenda that threatened to cripple the energy industry. In a 5-4 decision, the high court has ruled against Obama’s EPA in its effort to impose wildly expensive new rules on power plants. The Washington Examiner explains what the newly enacted rules by the Environmental Protection Agency were intended to do:

Excerpt: U.S. intelligence agencies believe there is a strong possibility the Assad regime will use chemical weapons on a large scale as part of a last-ditch effort to protect key Syrian government strongholds if Islamist fighters and other rebels try to overrun them, U.S. officials said.

Analysts and policy makers have been poring over all available intelligence hoping to determine what types of chemical weapons the regime might be able to deploy and what event or events might trigger their use, according to officials briefed on the matter. (U.S. Intelligence: Assad May Use Those Chemical Weapons Obama Said He Didn’t Have. Barack Obama, speaking at the White House, May 14 of this year, discussing Syria: "Assad gave up his chemical weapons. And that's not speculation on our part. That, in fact, has been confirmed by the organization internationally that is charged with eliminating chemical weapons." -- Jim Geraghty, Morning Jolt http://www.nationalreview.com/newsletters)

Excerpt: Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) exists in the Islamic Republic of Iran even while the redoubt of clerical dictatorship is absent from a recent survey of FGM in 29 countries, published by UNICEF. The UN agency examined states in Africa and the Middle East. The UNICEF document did not specify them in full, but named eleven. Four – Djibouti, Egypt. Guinea, and Somalia – are Muslim, and feature "universal" incidence of FGM, or a rate above 90 percent of all women. In Muslim lands outside Africa, FGM is considered a recent phenomenon. An émigré Iranian cleric, Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari, has condemned the practice, arguing that it is unsupported by the Koran or any other Islamic sacred texts. He has declared, "For the past 1,400 years there was no reflection of this topic in books by Islamic scholars or clerics." (I mean, what's more important, saving little girls from being mutilated or getting a deal, any deal, for Obama's legacy and his peace Prize? ~Bob)

Excerpt: American police forces from coast to coast are on alert from federal officials that the Islamic State (ISIS) is planning to terrorize the country during the July 4 Independence Day holiday. Homeland Security, the FBI and the NationalCounterterrorismCenter sent an intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies. No specific plots were spelled out, according to CNN, but there was a general warning because of the holiday and the upcoming visit of Pope Francis.

Excerpt: Turkey's Islamist government has had rational reasons to support discreetly its own Frankenstein monster: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The jihadists who have conquered large swathes of Syria and Iraq since the summer of 2014 may have the habit of beheading every infidel they catch, Muslim or non-Muslim. But they are merely the excessively savage next of kin to Turkish Islamists, who pursue similar political goals in Western-style suits and neckties instead of Arab gowns imitating the Prophet Muhammad's attire.

Their kinship diverges over methodology rather than objectives. But there is also a pragmatic attachment built on a shared obsession with common enemies.

Islamic Flag at Flying At Lewisville, TX Home Causes Community Backlash

Excerpt: A Muslim family living in Lewisville, TX flying an Islamic flag over their home has caused a stir in the community, even a call on social media to ‘burn their house down’. The flag’s purpose is to commemorate the martyrdom of Al Abbas ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, but with its white Arabic text on black background it looks very much like the flag of the terrorist group ISIS. One member of the Muslim family, 18-year-old Nisa, states that they have flown there flag for many years without complaint, that is until the rise of ISIS. (Ali would be Shi'a like Iran, ISIS is Sunni. ~Bob)

Excerpt: The attack is the second in June to take place near the border with Ivory Coast and the second in two days in the lower half of Mali. These attacks come after the government and the main Tuareg rebels in the north have agreed to a peace deal.

Israel-Hating Professor Hired to Teach Class on Israel at U of Missouri. By Paul Miller

Excerpt: Would you let David Duke teach a class on African-American history? How about Anita Bryant starting an LGBTQ studies program? Beyond incomprehensible—the makings of a Saturday Night Live skit. But this is no laughing matter. This insanity is a reality, and your children are being indoctrinated. George Smith despises Israel. The University of Missouri (Mizzou) biology professor has called the creation of the Jewish State “a shameful chapter in Jewish history.” Smith finds humor in Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli citizens. When Sderot (Israel) resident Noam Bedein came to Mizzou to discuss the nearly 13,000 rockets Hamas has fired, killing and injuring the people of Sderot, Smith showed up and distributed fliers that mocked the attacks—justifying terrorism because the average Palestinian has to “go through a checkpoint every time he has to take a sh*t.”

Excerpt: As the U.S. and its world partners race to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, women and children in the Islamic republic struggle under harsh, discriminatory laws despite numerous calls for reform from human rights groups and the international community. Last year, several women in the Iranian city of Isfahan were severely burned in acid attacks. The women were rumored to have been targeted for not being properly veiled. Meanwhile, children are subject to the death penalty in Iran, and the rate of executions of minors has increased in the past two years under “moderate” President Hassan Rouhani, according to Human Rights Watch. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his report to the United Nations General Assembly this year, said at least 160 children are serving time on Iran’s death row.

Excerpt: Over half of Muslims polled believe that "Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Sharia Law"! ... The same poll found that 25% of American Muslims believe that 'violence against other Americans here in the United States can be justified as part of the global jihad.'

Excerpt: Israel will build a fence along part of the border with Jordan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, before a meeting with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The new fence will span the 30 km of the border with Jordan northeast of Eilat, to the Timna airport, and will be built entirely on Israeli land, thus not harming Jordan or its national interests, Netanyahu explained.

Will Rome Fall Again? The Coming Muslim Conquest Of Italy: Will We Have To Ransom The Treasures Of The Vatican From Isis-Type Vandals?

Excerpt: The news about illegal immigration into Italy and Southern Europe is stunning. Here are some illustrative headlines from recent news accounts: “Welcome to Italy: this is what a real immigration crisis looks like,” declares the British Spectator magazine, which adds that Italy is being “invaded.” And here’s another scary story: “How the migration crisis is shaking Europe at its core.” After all, it’s only 100 miles or so from Tunisia, in Africa, to the Italian island of Sicily—an easy trip in almost any kind of vessel. And so if, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, have a look and decide for yourself. Yes, there’s an African invasion of Italy—it’s a mostly peaceful invasion, but still, as the Brits say, “invasion” is the right word for it—going on every day in the Mediterranean, as much of the population of Africa (home to 1.1 billion people, about half of them Muslim) seeks to transplant itself to Italy (population: 59 million) and the other social-welfare havens of Western Europe (population: less than 400 million.) If this “human wave” story isn’t getting that much attention here in the U.S., the reason could be that the international news networks, starting with the BBC, are too politically correct to get worked up over the ongoing story, while most conservative news outlets are too small, or too parochial, to really pay attention.

GOP Rep. Slams The New York Times For Claiming White Supremacists Are A Bigger Threat Than Jihadi Terrorists. By Emmakristina Sveen

Republican New York Rep. Peter King responded to the recent New York Times report Sunday, debunking The Times’ findings that white supremacists and anti-government extremists have killed at nearly twice the rate of radical Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks. King said that while “every murder is horrible,…there is no comparison between these white supremacists and an internationally coordinated movement which, if the attacks were not stopped, we could have thousands and thousands of deaths,” The Hill reported. (Easy to prove. the Times published a picture of "Piss Christ" which Christians found offensive. I suggest they publish a picture of "Piss Mohammad" and see what the response is. ~Bob)

The Iranian Negotiations That Never End. The negotiations will only end with a nuclear test. By Daniel Greenfield

Excerpt: It is quite possible that no matter how many concessions Obama makes, there will never be a final agreement with Iran. The deadlines have already been extended so many times that the only reliable thing about the negotiations is that somewhere near the edge, the negotiators will declare that they are close and extend the formerly final deadline some more. And then some more again. There is currently disagreement over the last agreement that was agreed to in order to extend the deadline. If you find that confusing, so does everyone else. According to the British Foreign Minister, “There are a number of different areas where we still have major differences of interpretation in detailing what was agreed in Lausanne.”

Excerpt: While many in the United States and abroad rejoiced at the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage ruling on Friday, the Islamic State sadistically “celebrated” in Syria by throwing gay men off of buildings.

Excerpt: At least five people have been killed and 10 wounded after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a leprosy hospital on the outskirts of the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, emergency services said Sunday. The bomber, who tried to gain access to the hospital, detonated his explosives outside the building at around 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) on Saturday.

Excerpt: Officials say the top suspect in the beheading of a French businessman took a "selfie" photo with the slain victim and sent the image to at least one recipient. Two French officials said authorities were working to confirm the identity of the recipient, but were not able to immediately confirm media reports that it was sent to an unspecified person in Syria.